Skip to Topics in this Article
PageCorrect List and repair broken links
Prioritized Content List broken links, Ignore a link or mark a link as Fixed
Web Browser Extension Find and handle broken links and see their location
Quality Assurance: Links List broken links, Ignore a link or mark a link as Fixed
Introduction
There are several ways to locate and repair broken links. This chapter gives instructions on each of the methods.
PageCorrect
List and repair broken links with PageCorrect.
Click Select Domain from the Monsido Domain Overview. The Domain Overview page opens.
Click on the domain name. The Dashboard for the domain opens.
Click PageCorrect (shield with a checkmark icon). The PageCorrect dashboard opens.
Click List from the menu on the left side of the page.
The PageCorrect Content page opens. The results are in a table format.
Filter: On the toolbar above the results list, select to filter for Links.
The columns are:
Issue: The icon for the type of issue, either a broken chain link icon or a broken image icon, along with the title for the issue (Broken Link or Broken Image) and the URL for the issue.
Changed to: The last change that was done to the issue.
Updated at: The date that the issue was updated last.
Created at: The date that the issue was created.
Action button: Click to expand the list of options: Update or Remove.
Click Action on the same row as a broken link. The menu expands. Select:
Update to update the issue. A dialog opens:
The dialog has a field with the existing URL and the instructions: "Please insert correct URL:"
Enter the correct URL in the field provided. The URL must start with a protocol such as http://.
Note: All links that lead to the same destination are listed. The first five are displayed, but the full number of URLs discovered is shown. Click the number to expand them.
Click Save. This fixes the broken link in all instances throughout the website.
Note: If the Monsido subscription ends, the error will still be present in the website HTML. Monsido recommends that a web developer fixes the issue within the HTML code. Make a note of the location(s) of the broken link and send it to the web developer for a permanent fix.
Remove to remove the issue from the list.
Select this choice if you know the link is correct and the error occurred due to, for example, a server outage at the time of the last scan.
Note: If the error persists, it will be flagged again.
For more information, see the User Guide chapter:
Prioritized Content
List broken links, Ignore a link or mark a link as Fixed with the Prioritized Content module.
Click Select Domain from the Monsido Domain Overview. The Domain Overview page opens.
Click on the domain name. The Dashboard for the domain opens.
Click Prioritized Content (bell icon), on the menu bar.
The Prioritized Content page opens.
Click Notifications on the same row as a domain. The menu expands.
Click to select Broken Links. The number on the right tells how many broken links the URL has.
The Broken Links page opens.
The columns on the list have these headers:
Broken Link: the URL for the link.
PageCorrect: Click to navigate to the PageCorrect module, where it is also possible to fix the highlighted link. Instructions are in the next section of this document.
Response code: The error code that the URL returns.
Type: The type of error (in this case, link).
Click Action. The menu expands with the following options:
Set to Fixed: Use this option when the issue is fixed on the CMS/HTML code of the website. Items that are marked as fixed are included in future scans.
Mark as Ignored: Use this option if links are incorrectly marked as broken.
Note: The difference between Fixed and Ignore is that issues marked as Fixed are still included in future scans and can be flagged again if the error persists. Issues that are set to Ignore are permanently omitted from future scans and compliance scores.
Inspect (Magnifying glass icon): Click to navigate to the Web Browser Extension view of the page, where it is possible to fix the highlighted link. Skip to Web Browser Extension instructions.
For more information, see the User Guide chapter:
Web Browser Extension
Find broken links and their location, Ignore a link or mark a link as Fixed with the web browser extension.
Open the website and start the Monsido Web Browser Extension.
Click to select Content Issues (insect icon) on the web browser extension toolbar.
The menu expands. Select Quality Assurance.
Click the arrow to expand the menu further. The issues list opens.
Click See Issues in the Broken Links / Broken Images section.
The Broken Links pane opens. Here is a list of broken links and broken image links.
Mark as Fixed (checkmark icon): Click to mark the issue as fixed. Do this when the issue is fixed on the CMS/HTML code of the website. Items that are marked as fixed are included in future scans.
Mark as Ignored (eye with a line through it icon): Do this when the link is not broken, but flagged by the scan for an unknown reason.
Note: The difference between Mark as Fixed and Mark as Ignored is that issues marked as Fixed are still included in future scans and can be flagged again if the error persists. Issues that are set to Ignore are permanently omitted from future scans and compliance scores.
HTML (</> icon): Click to view the location of the broken link within the page HTML code.
The HTML code opens and the broken link is highlighted.
Tip: Send this to the web development team, so that they can quickly find and repair the error within the HTML code.
Highlight (magnifying glass icon): Click to view the location of the broken link on the page.
The page view scrolls to the location of the link and the broken link is highlighted.
For more information, see the User Guide chapter:
Examine Links for Accessibility Issues
On the web browser extension toolbar, click to select Toolkit (tools icon). The Monsido Toolkit opens.
Click to turn on the Links button.
A list of all links on the website opens.
Click on a link in the list to see the location on the website.
Hover the cursor over a link on the page for more information about it.
Link Text
Link Title
Link URL
Aria-label
Link Length
Link Target.
Click on a link on the page to see the link behavior as a user experiences it.
For more information, see the User Guide chapter:
Quality Assurance: Links
List broken links, Ignore a link or mark a link as Fixed with the Quality Assurance module.
Click Select Domain from the Monsido Domain Overview. The Domain Overview page opens.
Click on the domain name. The Dashboard for the domain opens.
Click Quality Assurance (the checkbox icon), on the toolbar.
The Quality Assurance page opens.
Click Links from the menu on the left.
The menu expands with the following options:
Content with Broken Links
Click this option in the Links sub-menu on the left-hand side of the page to view the URLs of any pages that contain broken links. This is the default page that opens when Links is selected.
Navigate between All, Pages, PDF Documents, and Text Documents to view the location or type of content containing broken links.
Click Export to export the list.
A dialog box opens. Select your export file:
Broken Links with Page Count
Broken Links Per Page.
A message informs that, "Your export is currently being generated, You will receive an email when the export is ready." To view the progress, click the avatar icon on the main toolbar and select My Exports, or use the provided button Go to My Exports.
Click Filter ( the funnel icon) to filter for:
Labels
Type
Response code
Internal or external.
Search: Click in the dialog box and type a search string.
The table with the results has the headers:
Title and URL: This is the title and URL of the content that has been targeted with errors. Click the URL. The Broken Links pane slides open.
Notifications: Click to expand a quick-info box on the notifications for the URL.
Priority: Low, Medium, High as determined by the number of page views.
Views: Approximate number of page views since the last scan. This information is only available when Statistics is enabled.
Open page details (the page icon): On the same row as a page, click Open Page Details.
The details pane slides open. View the issues on the page, rated per severity, as determined by the last scan.
Broken Links
Click this option in the Links sub-menu on the left-hand side of the page to see the overview of broken links, including broken links that have been marked as ignored or fixed.
Navigate between All broken links, ignored, and Marked as fixed to view the location or type of broken links.
Click Export to export the list.
A dialog box opens. Select your export file:
Broken Links with Page Count
Broken Links Per Page.
A message informs that, "Your export is currently being generated, You will receive an email when the export is ready." To view the progress, click the avatar icon on the main toolbar and select My Exports, or use the provided button Go to My Exports.
Click Filter ( the funnel icon) to filter for:
Labels
Type
Response code
Internal or external.
Search: Click in the dialog box and type a search string.
The table with the results has the headers:
Broken Link: This is the link that is broken. Click the URL. The Broken Links pane slides open.
PageCorrect: Click to navigate to PageCorrect to view and correct the error.
For more information, see the User Guide chapter:
PageCorrect.Response code: This column shows the error code that is received for the link.
Type: This column lists the type of error that is detected.
Pages: This column gives information on where the broken link is located.
Documents: The broken link is found in this many documents.
Pages: The broken link is found on this many pages of the website.
Action: Click the button to expand the list of actions to take for the link. Select from the following:
Mark as fixed: Marks the link as fixed. It will be included in subsequent scans and if the error returns, it will appear again in the broken links list. Select this option when the error is actually fixed by the web team on the HTML code of the webpage, or if it is a temporary (for example, in an unpublished state) known issue.
Mark as ignored: Ignore the link. Use this option if you know the link is, in fact, OK. Ignored links are not included in subsequent scans and will not show up as broken.
Note: The difference between Mark as Fixed and Mark as Ignored is that issues marked as Fixed are still included in future scans and can be flagged again if the error persists. Issues that are set to Ignore are permanently omitted from future scans and compliance scores.
Broken Images
Click this option in the Links sub-menu on the left-hand side of the page to view the list of images that have broken links.
Tip: An example of a broken image could be an icon button with a broken path.
Click on the blue circle to see all of the broken links on a single page.
Note: Although the Quality Assurance Module is a highly effective way to find broken links on images, false positives can occur. For best results, it is important to manually review the findings.
Navigate between All broken images, ignored, and Marked as fixed to view the location or type of broken links on images.
Click Export to export the list.
A dialog box opens. Select your export file:
Broken Images with Page Count
Broken Image Links Per Page.
A message informs that, "Your export is currently being generated, You will receive an email when the export is ready." To view the progress, click the avatar icon on the main toolbar and select My Exports, or use the provided button Go to My Exports.
Click Filter ( the funnel icon) to filter for:
Labels
Type
Response code
Internal or external.
Search: Click in the dialog box and type a search string.
The table with the results has the headers:
Broken Link: This is the link that is broken. Click the URL. The Broken Links pane slides open.
PageCorrect: Click to navigate to PageCorrect to view and correct the error.
Response code: This column shows the error code that is received for the link.
Type: This column lists the type of error that is detected.
Pages: This column gives information on where the broken link is located.
Documents: The broken link is found in this many documents.
Pages: The broken link is found on this many pages of the website.
Action: Click the button to expand the list of actions to take for the link. Select from the following:
Mark as fixed: Marks the link as fixed. It will be included in subsequent scans and if the error returns, it will appear again in the broken links list. Select this option when the error is actually fixed by the web team on the HTML code of the webpage, or if it is a temporary (for example, in an unpublished state) known issue.
Mark as ignored: Ignore the link. Use this option if you know the link is, in fact, OK. Ignored links are not included in subsequent scans and will not show up as broken.
Note: The difference between Mark as Fixed and Mark as Ignored is that issues marked as Fixed are still included in future scans and can be flagged again if the error persists. Issues that are set to Ignore are permanently omitted from future scans and compliance scores.
For more information, see the User Guide chapter:
Policies for Links
It is sometimes necessary to set up a policy to tell the scan how to handle special or troublesome links. Monsido has several pre-made links policies that you can use.
For more information, see the User Guide chapter:
Troubleshooting
This section answers some common issues that customers encounter regarding broken links found by the Monsido scan.
Links are marked as broken when they are not
There are several possible reasons why links are flagged as broken or with errors when they are actually not:
The target server was down at the time of the scan.
A re-scan normally fixes the problem. Ignore the link to stop checking this link permanently, or Mark as Fixed if it is a temporary known issue.
The target server might be set to block site scanners and spiders like the Monsido Bot.
Social media sights can sometimes block scanners that make many requests to their site. Monsido scans thousands of websites every day and makes many requests to these websites. In most cases, you can safely ignore the link if you know that it is correct.
The target server has an invalid HTTPS certificate.
An invalid certificate causes the link to be marked as dead. Get in touch with the manager of the website and ask them to fix their certificate, or ignore the link if this is impossible.
The link points to a login page.
The link points to a page that requires a login. Such pages are often tagged as 'dead'. Ignore the link to stop checking this link permanently, or Mark as Fixed if it is a temporary (for example, in an unpublished state) known issue.
The same broken link appears in duplicate because of caps in the URL
If the scan flags many duplicate pages where the URLs are only different because of capitalized words within the URL, there is an option turn this off in the scan setup.
From the Monsido Domain Overview (the globe icon) click Settings (the gear icon) at the top of the page. The Admin Settings page opens.
Note: The Settings button is only available to site admins.
On the Admin settings page, click Action on the same row as a domain. A drop-down list expands.
Select Edit Domain. The Edit Domain page opens.
Case sensitive URLs: Toggle the switch OFF to instruct the scan to ignore capitalization within links, or ON to instruct the scan to make URL links case-sensitive.
Example OFF: http://monsido.com/Foo/Bar is seen as the same link as http://monsido.com/foo/bar.
Example ON: The same links above will register as two different links.
Important! In the OFF position, the Monsido scan sees all URLs as lowercase - no matter how they are actually written in the target website. Turn OFF only in rare cases where the target website does not recognize caps and reads all links in lowercase, which results in duplicates in the flagged scan issues. This is an advanced configuration that should normally be left to the default setting.
How to mark 403 errors as broken links
Links on pages that return error 403 (forbidden errors) can be classified as broken with this option in Settings.
From the Monsido Domain Overview (the globe icon) click Settings (the gear icon) at the top of the page. The Admin Settings page opens.
Note: The Settings button is only available to site admins.
On the Admin settings page, click Action on the same row as a domain. A drop-down list expands.
Select Edit Domain. The Edit Domain page opens.
Mark 403 as broken link: In the Crawl Options section, toggle the Mark 403 as broken link switch ON. This causes the scan to flag any link that returns this error with the status Broken Link.
How to instruct the scan to ignore canonical URLs
A canonical URL is the URL of the page that Google determines is most representative, taken from a set of duplicate pages on the website.
From the Monsido Domain Overview (globe icon), click Settings (gear icon) at the top of the page. The Admin Settings page opens.
Note: The Settings button is only available to site admins.
On the same row as the domain to scan, click Action.
In the drop-down list, select Edit Domain.
The Edit Domain page opens.
Ignore canonical URLs: In the Crawl Options section, toggle the Ignore canonical URLs switch ON. This causes the scan to disregard canonical URLs.
Additional Information
For more information, see the User Guide chapters:
For further assistance, contact the Monsido support team at support@monsido.com or via the Monsido chat and help features inside the application.
See Monsido for Developers for documentation and advanced help files for developers.
Contact us
Monsido, an Optimere brand:
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